The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Detroit Pistons 114-117. All five Lakers starters scored in the double digits in the matchup with guard Max Christie contributing 17 points.
“They’re a physical team, we knew going into it that a lot of their screens, they were shocking the ball, they were hedging,” Christie said. “I don’t think we did a great job of adapting to that.”
In his third year in the NBA and with the Lakers, Christie has been seeing more opportunities as a starter. This matchup marks his seventh start this season and the first time the Lakers lost with Christie starting.
Related Stories
Kei Kamara Finds Unity, Success in Soccer
Student Athlete of the Week: Taren Harper
“Tonight was a good offensive game for me,” Christie said. “But I wouldn’t say I measure my success on that end, it’s more so on the defensive end; I think tonight I did a solid job,”
Christie was assigned to defend Detroit guard Cade Cunningham in the matchup. Cunningham scored 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“[Cunningham is] an elite player, All-Star-level player,” Christie said. “I thought I did a good job just trying to make it tough for him.”
Christie started for the Lakers for the 17th time in his career. Guard Austin Reaves mentioned how he has seen his improvement; he believes that Christie is an asset to the team.
“Over the past couple weeks, he stepped into that role and embraced it,” Reaves said. “He’s had really good defensive games, offensive games. I think he’s become a better player since the day he got here.”
The Lakers had a strong offensive night against Detroit, shooting at 54.1 percent from the field and 46.7 from the three-point line. However, the Lakers gave up 28 points from making 20 turnovers.
“It is going to be hard to win in this league when you give up 28 points on turnovers. 20 turnovers in total,” said Lakers forward LeBron James. “They had 16 more attempts at the goal, so we did not give ourselves a good chance to win this game.”
However, Christie protected the ball during the match up by only turning over the ball once. During this season, Christie has started as a point guard, shooting guard and small forward. It was said that Christie will defend guard Steph Curry on Christmas Day, when the Lakers battle the Golden State Warriors in the Chase Center at 5:00P.M.
“I have to prepare at an elite level and I think I usually do that at a consistent basis for all these games,” Christie said. “For me, staying consistent with my routine of taking care of my body, hydrating a lot, eating properly, getting enough sleep … I think those will benefit me, hopefully on Christmas.”
